Category: Lady Vols

Baseball, basketball, softball in full swing at Tennessee

Baseball, basketball, softball in full swing at Tennessee.

KNOXVILLE — Basketball, baseball and softball are in full swing at the University of Tennessee.

Tennessee’s men’s basketball team (15-12, 7-7 SEC) is coming off a 73-66 road loss to Auburn and will take on Arkansas in Fayetteville on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET. The contest will be televised by the SEC Network. The Vols will return home Saturday to host Florida at 2 p.m. ET and will be televised by ESPN or ESPN2.

The Lady Vols basketball team (18-9, 8-6 SEC) will play its regular season home finale Thursday against Ole Miss. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET and the contest will be televised by SEC Network+. Tennessee will conclude the regular season Sunday, March 1 at Auburn.

The Diamond Vols (7-0) return to Lindsey Nelson Stadium Tuesday to take on Northern Kentucky at 4:30 p.m. ET. The contest can be viewed on WATCHESPN.

The Lady Vols softball team (7-6) returns to Sherri Parker Lee Stadium on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET against UT Martin. Tennessee will then play in the ETSU Tournament in Johnson City, Tenn. beginning Friday and concluding Sunday.

Lady Vols top Vanderbilt to end losing streak

Tennessee defeats Vanderbilt.

KNOXVILLE — The nightmare for the Lady Vols basketball team is over — at least temporarily.

Tennessee snapped a five-game losing streak and picked up its first win in the month of February as it outlasted in-state rival Vanderbilt, 67-63, Sunday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee (18-9 overall, 8-6 in the Southeastern Conference) opened a 32-18 lead in the second quarter, but let the Commodores back into the game and Vanderbilt (13-14, 3-11) took a 56-55 lead in the fourth quarter.

Tennessee, which last won over the Commodores in Nashville on Jan. 30, had enough to come back and reverse its recent bad fortune.

Freshman Jordan Horston has had a roller coaster ride of a rookie season on Rocky Top. She has shown flashes of brilliance at times, but struggled at others.

But on Sunday, she came off the bench and put up one of her most solid performances of the season.

She scored 16 points, including a layup to give Tennessee a 66-63 lead with 46 seconds left in the contest to put the Lady Vols up for good. Jazmine Massengill added a free throw shortly after to provide the final margin of victory.

Horston also had five assists and four rebounds.

Rennia Davis led the Lady Vols with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Rae Burrell added 12 for the Lady Vols, who host Ole Miss in their home finale Thursday night.

Chelsie Hall led the Commodores with a game-high 20 points.

Golden Knights defeat Tennessee again

2020 Tennessee softball.

TAMPA — For the second time in less than 24 hours, the University of Tennessee softball team has been run-ruled by an unranked University of Central Florida team.

The Lady Vols (7-4) closed out the first day of the Tampa Tournament with a 10-1 loss to the Golden Knights Friday.

When the 12th-ranked Lady Vols took the diamond early Saturday morning against UCF (11-2), the result was much the same as Tennessee came up on the short end of a 9-1 decision.

On Saturday, the Lady Vols managed to get just one hit. Tennessee also played some shaky defense on Saturday morning as it committed four errors in the game that ended after five innings.

The Lady Vols got their only run and hit from shortstop Josie Willingham, who homered in the bottom of the third inning.

Willingham’s dinger pulled Tennessee to  within 9-1.

Tennessee softball splits two in Tampa

2020 Tennessee softball.

TAMPA — It was a day of mixed results for the University of Tennessee softball team Friday.

The Lady Vols (7-3) split a pair of contests on the first day of the Tampa Tournament.

Tennessee opened the three-day event by notching a 9-1 run-rule victory over Florida International University Friday morning. The game was decided in the bottom of the sixth inning when shortstop Chelsea Seggren had a walk-off RBI single.

Later in the day, the University of Central Florida Golden Knights turned the tables on Tennessee as they run-ruled the Lady Vols 10-1 in five innings.

That loss marked the first time that Tennessee lost to an unranked non-conference foe in 2018. Then, it was Florida Atlantic that knocked off the Lady Vols 3-2 in 2018 in a tournament in Clearwater, Fla.

Despite being unranked, the Golden Knights are 10-2. The two teams were set for a rematch at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Against the Panthers, Seggin went 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double and two runs. She drove in a career-high seven runs batted in and is tied for sixth in RBIs in a single game.

Tennessee starting pitcher Samantha Bender surrendered one run, six hits and one walk in 4.2 innings. She finished her outings with three strikeouts against FIU, which dropped to 2-2 with the loss.

Lady Vols fall again on the hardwood

Lady Vols fall again on the hardwood.

FAYETTEVILLE — The Lady Vols saw their hardwood skid continue with another loss to another ranked team Thursday night.

Tennessee dropped its fifth consecutive game when it came up on the short end of an 83-75 decision against Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena.

Rae Burrell led the Lady Vols with 21 points while Rennia Davis added 18 for Tennessee, which has now lost six of its last seven games.

Burrell had nine rebounds and three assists while Davis grabbed eight boards and dished out three assists for the Lady Vols, who last won in Nashville, against Vanderbilt on Jan. 30.

Tennessee (17-9 overall, 7-6 in the Southeastern Conference) struggled to pull that contest out, but left Music City with a 78-69 win. The Commodores (13-13, 3-10) will make a return trip to Knoxville and Thompson-Boling Arena Sunday. Tipoff is slated for noon.

Vanderbilt has lost four of its last five games and lost to Missouri, 78-66, on Thursday night in Nashville.

Also on Thursday, Arkansas guard Amber Ramirez led the No. 22 Razorbacks with 29 points.

Lady Vols fall to Texas A&M at home

Lady Vols fall to Texas A&M.

KNOXVILLE — The Lady Vols saw its slide continue on the hardwood as their losing streak has reached four games.

The friendly confines of Thompson-Boling Arena were of little help as No. 25 Tennessee dropped a 73-71 decision to No. 16 Texas A&M Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Vols (17-8 overall, 7-5 in the Southeastern Conference) have now dropped four consecutive conference games and lost five of their last six contests.

Rae Burrell, who was making her third career start, led Tennessee with 19 points while Rennia Davis had 18 for the Lady Vols, who committed 16 turnovers and shot an abysmal 6-for-16 from the free throw line.

Chenneddy Carter scored 37 points for the Aggies (20-5, 8-4 SEC).

Next up for Tennessee is a trip to Fayetteville to take on No.23 Arkansas Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET).

Lady Vols edge Colorado State in Mexico

2020 Tennessee softball.

PUERTO VALLARTA — The University of Tennessee softball team continued its season Thursday at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Mexico.

The Lady Vols opened their stay south of the border with a 2-0 loss to Team Mexico in an exhibition game Thursday afternoon.

The game does not go on Tennessee’s overall record, but the Lady Vols’ offense was all but stifled as they only mustered a pair of singles. Kaili Phillips and Treasury Poindexter each had hits for UT.

On Thursday night the Lady Vols outlasted Colorado State, 6-4, picking up nine hits en route to recording a victory.

Ashley Morgan, Amanda Ayala and Chelsea Seggren each had two hits for the Lady Vols (4-1).  Ayala drove in a pair of runs and scored two more. Seggren also knocked in a pair of runs.

LSU downs Lady Vols on the hardwood

LSU downs Lady Vols on the hardwood.

BATON ROUGE — The University of Tennessee women’s basketball team saw their slump continue Thursday night.

The Lady Vols dropped a 75-65 Southeastern Conference contest on the road at LSU. Tennessee, ranked No. 25 in the nation, have now lost three consecutive conference games and are 0-for-February.

And things won’t get any easier for Tennessee on the hardwood. The Lady Vols (17-7 overall, 7-4 in the SEC) host No. 16 Texas A&M Sunday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. (ET) on Rocky Top.

The win enabled the Tigers (18-5, 8-3) to avenge an earlier loss to the Lady Vols in Knoxville.

LSU and Tennessee are now headed in opposite directions as the Tigers have now won four straight games since losing to Tennessee on Jan. 26.

Rennia Davis, who missed UT’s last game against Mississippi State on Feb. 6 (flu) returned.

She was the only Tennessee player to post double figures in the scoring column as she finished with 19 points and six rebounds.

Tamari Key and Lou Brown had nine points each. Jaiden McCoy added seven and Jazmine Massengill finished with six.

LSU’s Khayla Pointer had a game-high 24 points while Awa Trasi added 22 and Tiara Young had 10.

Lady Vols outlast Arizona State, 8-5

Lady Vols outlast Arizona State, 8-5.

TEMPE — The University of Tennessee softball team finally saw its stay come to an end of the season opening trip to Arizona Tuesday night, and the Lady Vols closed the trip with a victory.

Tennessee, the No. 12 team in the country, clubbed a pair of home runs and legged out four doubles in an 8-5 victory over host Arizona State in its final game of the Kajikawa Classic in the Valley of the Sun.

The game started Monday night and was postponed due to rain in the top of the fourth inning with the Lady Vols holding a 4-0 lead over the No. 22 Sun Devils.

Amanda Ayala and Kaili Phillips both clubbed homers for UT (4-1) while Cailin Hannon, Ally Shipman, Ashley Morgan and K.K. McCrary all doubled for Tennessee, which pounded out seven hits and stranded just three runners on base.

It was a trip of ups and downs for the Lady Vols. They opened things with wins over Northwestern and Kansas. UT had a 13-6 lead against Western Michigan, but that game was declared a no contest because it did not go four complete innings due to a tournament time limit.

Tennessee was run-ruled against national powerhouse Arizona, 8-0, on Sunday night.

Lady Vols nab two wins to open season

Lady Vols nab two wins to open season.

TEMPE — The University of Tennessee softball team showed some offensive power to open its season in the Kajikawa Classic on Saturday.

The 12th-ranked Lady Vols nabbed a pair of victories on the event’s first day. Tennessee (2-0) defeated Northwestern 6-3 in the afternoon and then returned to the diamond later to rout Kansas 10-2 in six innings.

The Lady Vols pounded out a combined 22 hits in the two tilts.

Against the Wildcats, Tennessee fell behind as Northwestern tallied in the top of the first inning. But the Lady Vols would pull even in the bottom of the frame.

Kalli Phillips and Niki Miloy both homered in the season opener. Amanda Ayala also had three hits against the Wildcats.

Phillips went 1-for-4 with a run scored and driving in three.

Ayala was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI while Milloy was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

Against the Jayhawks, Tennessee finished things early thanks to a four-run sixth inning.

Chelsea Seggern got the scoring started when she blasted a solo home run to center field. That was the start of a night that saw a 3-for-4 with four runs and two runs batted in performance.

Milloy went 2-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base. Ally Shipman tripled. She went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs and scored twice.

Ayala doubled, scored twice and drove in a pair.